What is professional looking?
Before!
When we discuss headshots with our clients (or potential clients), we always make it clear that there is no such thing as a standard headshot. Every photograph you use for your business tells a story (whether you want it to or not…). Which is also why we bang on about not having a blurry headshot or one taken in a pub or on holiday for your website and LinkedIn profile - people might infer you are unprofessional…
So if we assume that we aren’t making elementary errors with a headshot, why not “just a standard headshot?” As a blunt example, a headshot for a funeral director should probably not look like on for a creative director or entertainer. What do you want to achieve with your headshot? There’s a conundrum we come up with a fair amount when we shoot solicitors, because they often have two contradictory messages they want to convey (this is especially true for litigators): they want to look friendly and welcoming (for potential clients) but I mean business enough to look like they can fight your corner. And that’s a needle we’ve threaded many a time.
Which brings us to a shoot a week or two ago. It was all fairly standard as events go - images of delegates etc, and some headshots for their professional use. Which we did (friendly and approachable was what we went for). Then, in the lunch break, I was approached by some delegates who wanted to do something more ‘fun’ - and never one to turn down a chance to play with photos and come up with something more creative, we did exactly that.
After. And better?!
With just a chair as a prop, one light, and some playfulness, we created something a little different. Fun but - as you can see from the other pictures - still professional. Still approachable and friendly. Still perfect for websites and LinkedIn*. Yet different. (*maybe not for the undertakers…) And our perfect type of shoot, with people wanting to be creative and try things out (and if it hadn’t worked, we’d have lost nothing but a few minutes of messing about). 🍉